|
|
||||||||
|
TIMOR-LESTE 2012
Victor Valley College Tropical Research Initiative Fiuren, Bobonaro DistrictWe twice, by day and night, visited a dry forest area at Fiuren, near Balibo and searched for reptiles and amphibians. The large numbers of pigs and chickens in the forest probably meant there were few terrestrial species left but we did see one Four-fingered skink (Carlia sp.) that evaded capture.
We did find herps however, including Striped treefrogs (Polypedates cf. leucomystax) and Tokay geckos (Gekko gecko gecko). One of the treefrogs went into "unken reflex" when disturbed,a defensive posture involving arching the back and covering the eyes with the forelimbs.
The night hunt produced more lizards than the day hunt, Indo-Pacific gecko (Hemidactylus cf. garnotii), Mutilated gecko (Gehyra mutilata) and Bent-toed gecko (Cyrtodactylus sp.10), although the day hunt turned up two Emerald tree skinks (Lamprolepis cf. smaragdina).
We found two Island wolfsnakes (Lycodon capucinus), one in the dry forest at night and one DOR in the daytime. Today was our last "field day".
Since Zito was with us we took the opportunity of having him interview the villagers about reptiles and amphibians they may have seen in the area. He had proven expert at interviewing villagers and at using the "Species Identification Cards" on Ataúro Island on Phase VI so he was a natural choice to run the same test at Fiuren, plus the people where Bobonaro people like himself.
We also found some interesting spiders, beetles and bugs which have yet to be identified.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
